Deep Dwarf
Personality/Behavior In the same way the Dark Elves are a darker mirror image of the High Elves, so to are the Deep Dwarves to Mountain Dwarves. Deep Dwarves are dishonorable, selfish, and obsessed only with amounting as much personal wealth and power as they can in their lifetimes. They are highly suspicious of all other races, always believing that all are capable of the same level of dishonor as they are and make no allies of any outside of their kind unless they can benefit greatly in some way. Thats not to say even among their own kind they aren't highly untrusting, knowing all too well that king and kinsman matter little in the grand scheme of things and even a trusted family member could be capable of stealing what is rightfully yours. As individuals they tend to come off as sullen, short tempered, ungrateful and genuinely unable to find much joy in life no matter how much they material wealth they obtain and will nurse a grudge no matter how minimal (or whether its real or imagined) to their last days. Description/Biology Deep Dwarves are modeled after the standard Mountain Dwarf shape with squat, stocky builds, barrel chests on men and ample, curvy figures on women. However all have dark gray skin, eyes and hair running in the spectrum of yellow, orange and red and males have lower canines that jut upwards out of their lips, similar to an Orc. Climate/Terrain Mountains and Underground Territories Deep Dwarves choose to keep to the underdeep, preferring hot, volcanically active regions and above ground can only be found in the northern regions of the Unseelie Territory. Society Deep Dwarf society barely functions as a cohesive society at all, with families in constant conflict with one another whether in physical confrontation, business disagreements, border disputes or attempts to steal from, scam or manipulate the other to their own ends. They are are however preeminent artisans, engineers and merchants of the Underdeep, united by their common greed and will deal with other races only for the promise of greater riches. Much like the Nockers, they have taken to the development of technology although with a far less streamlined and aestheticly pleasing nature; like gritty processing refineries, factories belching black smoke into the air and clunky slow moving machines of heavy iron that run on fuel oil. There is a system of rule and royalty, based on little more than who is the wealthiest and therefore holds the most power over the rest as everyone has their price. There is no need to inspire loyalty or uphold honor when allegiance can be bought rather easily. Species Relations Deep Dwarves tend to be universally disliked my most all other races, including each other and will only associate with other races if they have something to gain from the arrangement. They have a deep seeded hatred for the other Dwarf and Gnome subraces but have a great interest in the technological endeavors of the Nockers, who hate them in return more than anything else. They are also notorious for taking slaves of any who venture to close to their lands, using them for labor, sex trade or gladiatorial games for their amusement. Gender Relations/Roles Few cultures in Mytheroptera mistreat their women quite as badly as the Deep Dwarves. Women among their kind have no worth outside of servants, concubines, a means to procreate and quite frequently, living currency to be bartered with. Only their connection to a particular family bloodline of influence gives one any claim to a respectful existence with minimal hardship. However due to such a prevalent history of abuse, most females end up hardened and resilient in the face of adversity but almost all have some sort of mental and/or emotional instability that goes along with it. (Female Deep Dwarves on the open slave market often come with a "buyer beware" disclaimer) Love/Courtship No. There is no such concept of love or the need or desire to commit to any formal courtship ritual among the Deep Dwarves, although females have been seen to be capable of a certain degree of compassion, the only thing thats kept them strong over centuries of abuse. If a male finds a woman appealing, they will usually strike a deal with whoever in her family can permit access to her, usually just for the purpose of sex unless being married into that particular family is financially beneficial. Its common for the most afluent Deep Dwarves to have a harem of "wives" as a status symbol. Sex Since women are seen as little more than objects to be bought and sold, there is usually no desire on the part of the male to go out of their way to pleasure their mate. They perform just long enough to reach climax, or for the more sexually active and sadistic, to take pleasure in tormenting their mate to draw out their fun as long as they'd like. Ironically most females would prefer ending up with a male with a far less virile sex drive, just wanting to get the job done and move on to more important matters. Birthright : Fireblite: From a long history of existence in volcanically active regions, Deep Dwarves are naturally resistant to extreme heat and fire and suffer little from the inhalation of smoke. Favored Class Deep Dwarves share a lot of the same favored classes as Mountain Dwarves favoring either Soldier, Warrior or Artisan. Although they usually eschew any magical knowledge in favor of heavy industry based technology like oil and gunpowder. Combat Deep Dwarf tactics are much like their eastern cousins, albeit with more emphasis on technological weaponry, firearms and heavy warmachines to dominate the battlefield. Development Deep Dwarves are a combination of two particular inspirations; the Chaos Dwarf army from Warhammer Fantasy and the "Duergar" race from D&D. And really the only reason for developing them was wanting a race of evil aligned dwarves to use as a plot device.